ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley is now ten-years-old, and the cozy farming game has seen years of free updates with no additional cost. While the game has emerged into a huge brand of merchandise, board games, and even symphonic concerts, creator Eric Barone is against adding any additional cost to his iconic farming game.
Alongside denouncing the use of AI in creative works, Barone explained in a recent interview that he will never create a game with microtransactions. Similar to the developers of Slay the Spire 2, which recently turned down players asking for microtransactions, Barone doesn’t want to add additional purchases to his games.
“I just genuinely value the love of the players more than the money that I could squeeze out of everyone,” the Stardew Valley creator told GameInformer in a pay-walled interview. “I just know that would not bring me as much happiness as being beloved by the community.”
“You can either chase the dollar or you can chase the respect and admiration of the community.”
Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone
Barone explained that, for him, not including microtransactions in any of his projects is a “no-brainer”. As a solo indie dev, although they are using a team of new developers for the game’s new 1.7 update, Barone wants to continue chasing community instead of endless profit, even if some fans would support the addition of paid cosmetics.
“You might even call it selfish,” the developer said, “because I’m really doing what is going to make me the happiest. You know, you can either chase the dollar or you can chase the respect and admiration of the community. And [that] is just what I prefer. That makes me feel better than having money.”
Barone notes that “the theme of Stardew Valley itself if about returning to a more authentic way of living, more natural”, and the game has always felt like a return to a simpler form of gaming. While Stardew isn’t an inherently simple game, it’s one that never feels predatory, and never feels like there’s a catch.
While many will undoubtedly praise Barone for his anti-microtransaction stance, the developer doesn’t see this as a rarity. “I don’t think of myself as some great, moral person,” he added. “I don’ think I ever would, no matter what, because I just feel like it’s not a good thing to think about yourself. It’s always better to be thinking you could do better”.
Stardew Valley has sold a lot of copies since launch with millions of dollars generated for Barone, alongside merchandise sales. Nevertheless, Barone’s push to continue updating Stardew alongside the development of Haunted Chocolatier has added years of additional value to the game, and the developer still isn’t finished with it.
The next major Stardew Valley update comes in the form of 1.7, a brand-new addition to the game that introduces a new farm type and more.
